Indian Government Bans 43 More Mobile Apps: What Experts Feel About It

The Indian Government has banned 43 more Chinese apps for “engaging in activities which are prejudicial to India's sovereignty, integrity, defence, security and public order.” The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued an order under section 69A of the Information Technology Act blocking access to these 43 mobile apps. MeitY says that the order for blocking the access of these apps by users in India was taken based on the comprehensive reports received from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The 43 apps that have been blocked are as follows:

1. AliSuppliers Mobile App
2. Alibaba Workbench
3. AliExpress - Smarter Shopping, Better Living
4. Alipay Cashier
5. Lalamove India - Delivery App
6. Drive with Lalamove India
7. Snack Video
8. CamCard - Business Card Reader
9. CamCard - BCR (Western)
10. Soul- Follow the soul to find you
11. Chinese Social - Free Online Dating Video App & Chat
12. Date in Asia - Dating & Chat For Asian Singles
13. WeDate-Dating App
14. Free dating app-Singol, start your date!
15. Adore App
16. TrulyChinese - Chinese Dating App
17. TrulyAsian - Asian Dating App
18. ChinaLove: dating app for Chinese singles
19. DateMyAge: Chat, Meet, Date Mature Singles Online
20. AsianDate: find Asian singles
21. FlirtWish: chat with singles
22. Guys Only Dating: Gay Chat
23. Tubit: Live Streams
24. WeWorkChina
25. First Love Live- super hot live beauties live online
26. Rela - Lesbian Social Network
27. Cashier Wallet
28. MangoTV
29. MGTV-HunanTV official TV APP
30. WeTV - TV version
31. WeTV - Cdrama, Kdrama&More
32. WeTV Lite
33. Lucky Live-Live Video Streaming App
34. Taobao Live
35. DingTalk
36. Identity V
37. Isoland 2: Ashes of Time
38. BoxStar (Early Access)
39. Heroes Evolved
40. Happy Fish
41. Jellipop Match-Decorate your dream island
42. Munchkin Match: magic home building
43. Conquista Online II

What Industry Experts Feel about the Indian Government Banning 43 Apps

The move has been welcomed by industry experts who say that such developments will give the AatmaNirbhar initiative the much-needed push. “This is not the first time that the government has banned apps that pose a threat to the nation and citizen security. Earlier, on June 20, the central government for the first time banned 59 mobile apps. This decision restricted many popular apps, including Tik Tok, UC Browser. After this, 118 apps were banned in September under the IT Act, these repeated cycles of app ban highlight the grave consequences these apps have been posing on each of their users' personal data. The Indian user base is also supporting the authorities on this front due to the geopolitical tensions our country is facing, and the realization of how data breaching can impact their businesses in the long run has also strengthened. It is an opportune time for the Indian tech and IT community, to work towards making India's IT framework more resilient. This support to homegrown apps will help us in going global.  This is also great for the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission of the Government of India,” says Dr. Ajay Data, founder and CEO, VideoMeet Pvt Ltd, the parent company for VideoMeet app.

On a similar note, Varun Saxena, founder and CEO, Bolo Indya, welcomed the move as well. “This is yet another welcome move from the government to stand against Chinese apps that always have had serious privacy issues,” he said.  "Another ban on 43 Chinese apps is a welcome move. I think this move by the Government of India sends out a strong message that Indian data cannot be compromised. We welcome anyone to do business here, but Indian users' data must be protected through safe means. There are many apps in the market, which can be better alternatives to Chinese apps like –AliExpress, CamCard, etc. During the last two times ban on apps, homegrown apps have seen a huge increase in the number of downloads. Domestic applications developers got recruited and this opportunity has also opened up the job market under the segment which will eventually boost the Indian economy," says Teja Gudluru, founder and CEO, UDo-now.com.

However, Akash Karmakar, a partner at the Law Offices of Panag & Babu feels that the terms “sovereignty and integrity of India” need to be well defined so as to not hurt India’s credibility as an investment destination. “While the MEITY has invoked its powers to block these apps on the same grounds as stated earlier, (sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order) these terms are capable of a wide interpretation. The lack of well-defined parameters as opposed to an elastic definition could cause hurt India’s credibility as an investment destination for foreign technology companies, in a manner akin to how the vague definition of ‘public policy’ was earlier used to resist enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. The MHA defining its expectations and the MEITY conducting the ongoing proceedings against banned apps in a transparent and time-bound manner could help prevent such an adverse perception about the ease of doing business in India,” he said.